DNS Support for Active Directory Technical Reference

Active Directory is the directory service for the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system; DNS is the primary name resolution service for Windows Server 2003, and a core component of Windows Server 2003 TCP/IP networking.

Strictly speaking, DNS is not a component of Active Directory. However, knowledge of how Active Directory depends on DNS is necessary to understand how Active Directory components are able to perform their assigned operations. DNS is used by Active Directory for domain controller location and DNS naming is leveraged by Active Directory for domain naming. Because Active Directory depends on DNS for domain controller location and DNS influences Active Directory domain naming, DNS is discussed in this technical reference subject as a component of the Windows Server 2003 directory service solution.